Steve Lonegan, ex-Bergen mayor and GOP firebrand, will seek Sussex seat

Steve Lonegan, who moved to Sussex County last fall to run for a state Assembly seat, said this week that he will now seek the Republican nomination for state Senate, a challenge to former Assemblyman Parker Space.

The announcement came Tuesday during a radio interview and follows announced changes in the political makeup of representation for District 24, which includes all of Sussex County and parts of Morris and Warren counties.

Prior to reapportionment, the district had been represented by Sen. Steve Oroho with Hal Wirths and Space as Assembly members. Last year both Space and Wirths announced they would not seek reelection and then early this year Oroho said he was also retiring at the end of this term.

Assembly seats are up for election in odd-numbered years in New Jersey. Senate seats have a hybrid set of terms, a two-year term after the decennial census, then, after reapportionment, two four-year terms.

With Oroho out of the race, Space said he would seek the Republican nomination for Senate. At that point, there was a list of seven candidates, including Lonegan, who announced runs for the GOP nod for assembly.

Space became the head of a ticket which includes Sussex County Commissioner Dawn Fantasia and Chester Mayor Mike Inganamort.

With Lonegan's announcement, he also said he would be heading a slate that includes Josh Aiken, a member of the Lafayette Board of Education, and Warren County Commissioner Jason Sarnoski. The other announced candidates for the Republican line are Roxbury resident Enrico Fioranelli and Robert Kovic, a Sparta resident and attorney who once ran for Congress.

The candidates have until March 27 to file nominating petitions with the state to be included on the June primary ballot. The Morris County GOP committee meets in early March to pick candidates who get "party lines" on the June ballot. Warren County Republicans also have a "party line." Sussex County Republicans have never taken the route of a party committee favorite.

Lonegan's announcement of switching to become a senatorial candidate had been rumored since Oroho announced at the end of January that business and family considerations resulted in his retirement.

When Space made his announcement, he was asked about those rumors and said he believed he had the backing of most Republicans in Sussex County, where the GOP has a solid majority.

At the time of the June, 2022 primary, the county had a total of 114,317 registered voters. Of that number 49,094 were registered as Republican and 26,466 as Democrats, leaving 38,757 not registered in either of the two major parties.

Space also noted that his family's roots in the county "go back 250 years. Steve has been here since October."

In making his announcement, Lonegan came out swinging against Space, saying that in his 10 years in the Assembly "he accomplished nothing."

Sussex newsVernon gets $3.4 million federal grant to expand sewers, attract businesses

Lonegan, 66, served three terms as mayor of Bogota beginning in 1995. He lost races for the state Senate in 1996 and was unsuccessful in attempts for U.S. Congress in 1998, and New Jersey governor primaries in 2005 and 2009. In 2013 he lost a U.S. Senate race to Cory Booker. He has also lost a 2018 primary race in the 5th Congressional District.

Lonegan also moved into Ocean County in a losing attempt to win the 2014 primary for the 3rd Congressional District.

However, despite losing overall vote totals, he did poll well in Sussex County.

Lonegan said that parental rights and sex education and core curriculum will be among issues in his campaign.

Space has served on the Wantage Township Committee and as Sussex County Freeholder (now renamed as commissioner) before joining with Wirths and Oroho, also former county freeholders. Space's wife, Jill, is a current Sussex County commissioner.

This article originally appeared on New Jersey Herald: Steve Lonegan announces run for NJ state senate seat